Arsène Wenger has responded dismissively to a claim from Sir Alex Ferguson that he does not "like buying defenders" and that his Arsenal squad "lacks ­balance" by insisting he always ignores the ­Manchester United manager.

"I am not interested in Alex Ferguson's comments at all, I never read what he says," said Wenger. "We have recently been accused of having a strong defence and no attack. We have not been ­conceding goals for two or three months and we have many offensive players who have been out for a while. Eduardo [da Silva] was out for a year, [Tomas] Rosicky a year, [Cesc] Fábregas [since December], [Theo] Walcott three months."

Wenger and Ferguson, who gave an interview to Le Journal du Dimanche in which he said he was "astonished" by Arsenal's signing of another attacking player in Andrei Arshavin, have grown to tolerate one other in recent years, the enmity that previously characterised their relationship cooling somewhat. But the pair can still antagonise each other and Wenger could not resist throwing a barb back at Ferguson.

Wenger was addressing Arsenal's ­travails in front of goal – they have scored once in their last four Premier League­fixtures – when he said that all of the other leading teams had struggled ­similarly. "Villa struggled," he said, "Chelsea, ­Liverpool and Man United ... They [United] had a bit more help than the ­others, but they struggled as well."

Did that help come from referees? "No, no, no, nobody would think that in England," Wenger said, with no ­little mischief. "I just read the comments of [the Blackburn Rovers manager] Sam Allardyce and he starts to think they get some help. It was completely news for me and for the other 19 managers as well. I was surprised." Allardyce had raged at the refereeing decisions during United's 2-1 victory at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Wenger, preparing for the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie against Roma at the Emirates Stadium tonight, said that his Arsenal team was "as good as anything in England". "The league table does not lie," he said, "and we have 17 points less than Man United but we have beaten them this season, beaten Chelsea and against Liverpool with 10 men we did not lose. Our five losses at the start of the season were down to the damage that we suffered by not winning the title last year. It took time to recover."

Fábregas returned to light training yesterday, after his knee ligament injury, although he is still some weeks off full fitness while Wenger reported that the club was "not far" from agreeing a contract extension with Robin van Persie. The striker's current deal expires in the summer of next year.